Jairzinho knows better than most what Brazilian attacking football is supposed to look like.

The 81-year-old was one of the defining players of the great Brazil side that won the 1970 World Cup, a team still remembered as one of the most creative and entertaining in football history.

Now, more than five decades later, he believes the modern Seleção has drifted away from that identity.

According to TV 2 Sport, Jairzinho has criticised the current Brazil team for lacking the kind of attacking imagination that once made the country unique.

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Five creators in one team

The contrast with 1970 remains striking.

Brazil’s World Cup-winning side was built around a collection of extraordinary attacking players. Pelé, Jairzinho, Gérson, Tostão and Rivellino all played major roles in a team that mixed freedom, movement and technical quality.

According to FIFA, Brazil’s 4-1 win over Italy in the 1970 final at Estadio Azteca remains one of the great World Cup performances, with Gérson, Rivellino, Jairzinho and Pelé all central to the victory.

Jairzinho scored Brazil’s third goal in that final, after Pelé headed the ball into his path.

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It was the final act of a remarkable tournament for the winger.

According to FIFA, Jairzinho finished the 1970 World Cup with seven goals, including one in Brazil’s opening 4-1 win over Czechoslovakia and another in the final against Italy.

A very different Brazil

That team still shapes how Jairzinho views the national side today.

Quoted by TV 2 Sport, he said: “Today’s national team is very different from the team of 1970.”

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He then pointed to the number of creative players Brazil had on the pitch during his own era.

“The team in 1970 played with five classic number 10s, five, including myself. Today’s team has only one number 10, and the interplay is not the same as back then,” he said.

For Jairzinho, the issue is not only about individual talent. It is about the way Brazil play.

The old Seleção did not rely on one player to carry the attacking burden. It spread responsibility across the team, with several players capable of creating, combining and deciding matches.

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That, in Jairzinho’s view, is what the current side lacks.

Neymar still carries the old spirit

Despite his criticism, Jairzinho does see one modern player as a link to the older Brazilian tradition.

Neymar, he believes, remains one of the few players in the current generation who reflects the classic Brazilian number 10. The forward’s creativity, dribbling and ability to change games have long made him the central figure of the Seleção.

The problem is that Brazil have often looked too dependent on him.

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According to Globo Esporte, former Brazil coach Dunga made a similar point in 2015 when he used Jairzinho as an example of collective responsibility, saying: “You cannot expect one person alone to solve everything.”

That concern has followed Brazil for years.

The country has produced many outstanding forwards and midfielders, but the balance between individual brilliance and collective attacking play has often been questioned since the last World Cup triumph in 2002.

A call for more daring

Jairzinho’s message is ultimately simple.

He wants Brazil to play with more ambition, more creativity and more attacking courage.

Quoted by TV 2 Sport, he said: “I remember how it was in my time. That is why I wish the Brazilian national team would play much more offensively and, if possible, with more creative players on the pitch.”

It is a familiar argument in Brazil, where football is never judged only by results.

The Seleção are expected to win, but they are also expected to inspire. For Jairzinho, the current side has moved too far from the style that once made the yellow shirt a symbol of imagination and joy.

His criticism is not nostalgia for its own sake. It is a warning from a player who helped define Brazil’s golden age.

The country still has talent. Jairzinho’s question is whether it still has enough players trusted to express it.